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Why the 49ers Were Smart to Release Arik Armstead

Armstead doesn't get it. He's offended. He feels the 49ers disrespected him with their offer.
Grant Cohn|
Mar 7, 2022; Sacramento, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Arik Armstead sits court
Mar 7, 2022; Sacramento, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Arik Armstead sits court | Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

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Jacksonville Jaguars

From 2015 to 2023, the 49ers paid Arik Armstead more than $85 million. They even traded away DeForest Buckner so they could pay Armstead instead.

This offseason, the 49ers decided enough was enough. But before they released him, they offered him a giant pay cut, which he refused. Armstead made the right decision for him, considering the Jaguars gave him a three-year deal worth $43.5 million.

But the 49ers also made the right decision for them, and I'll explain why, because Armstead doesn't get it. He's offended. He feels the 49ers disrespected him with their offer.

"They extended an offer to me of $6 million for a one-year deal with incentives to go up to like $8 million," Armstead said on his podcast. "When they sent that over, I did feel extremely disrespected. I don't feel that level of compensation is nowhere near the type of player that I am and what I have committed to the game and my team and the organization and my community. I put a lot into what I do. I'm not just a guy who goes to practice, goes home and does the bare minimum just to get by. I watch the most film, invest the most time in my body and preparation, working on my game and my craft -- I have a real passion for this and a true love for this, and I know for a fact that I put a lot more into football than the majority of players. I think that has value as well."

Everything Armstead said is true, but there's something he didn't say, and it's important: His body is breaking down. He's 30-years old. He has plantar fasciitis, a torn meniscus and he hasn't been fully healthy since 2021.

The plantar fasciitis isn't going away. He'll play through that for the rest of his career, which means he will continue to miss games every season. And of course the Jaguars signed him -- their general manager is Trent Baalke, who drafted Armstead and has taken big gambles on injured players for more than a decade.

The Jaguars made a big mistake giving Armstead all that money, a mistake they'll come to regret real soon once they learn what the 49ers already know: Armstead is damaged goods.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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